A large percentage of watches currently manufactured are of the self-winding type. These watches require a threshold amount of daily physical movement in order to keep them running. If such a watch is not worn for a period of time, it will stop running and require resetting. For elaborate watches, resetting can be an ordeal. Further, some people have more than one watch of this type and any watch not being worn may run down before the owner decides to wear it again. If a practical device for winding were available the watch (or watches) not currently in use would simply be placed into the watch winding apparatus which could keep them running indefinitely. When the user chooses to switch watches, the dormant one would already be running and keeping accurate time, and is simply placed on the wrist. The watch being removed from the wrist may be placed into the watch winding apparatus until its next use.
A number of approaches to watch winders have included an apparatus for simulating the motion of the wearer's wrist. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,958 incorporated herein by reference, entitled "Watch Winder" and issued to Thomas Wuntch, Nov. 15, 1977 discloses a device primarily for home use which accepts a single watch on a mandrel which is rotated coincident with the axis of rotation of the internal self-winding rotor of the watch. The inventor claims an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,007, incorporated herein by reference, entitled "Watch Winding Apparatus" and issued to Robert C. Kauffman on Nov. 16, 1971, in that the relationship of the axis of rotation of the stem of the internal winding rotor of the watch to the support shaft of the winding apparatus is generally orthogonal and does not maximize efficiency in turning rotation of the support shaft of the apparatus into rotation of the winding rotor of the watch.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,863,345 by Rene A. Fiechter (Watch Winding Machine) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,917,955 by John L. Leger (Testing Device for Self Winding Mechanism) disclose devices for manufacturers or jewelers who need to wind many watches simultaneously. While the Leger patent shows a device which more closely simulates normal arm motion (alternately accelerating and decelerating), it and the Fiechter device use mechanisms which are complex, bulky and too expensive for home use.
There is a need for an apparatus which avoids prior problems by providing effective winding motion in a number of orientations, more closely simulating irregular and accented movements of the arm, involving a simple mechanism which is economical to produce and maintain, and is efficient providing a full day's winding in less than three hours.